Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Muzzleloaders FFFg loads

I've always used Goex FFg in my 54 cal round ball gun with very good results. 90gr of FFg, 54 cal wonder wad, .0015" patch and a .530" Hornady lead RB. I was talking to some other front stuffers at the range last weekend that really like using FFFg in their 54 cal guns. They touted the merits of using FFFg over FFg, more velocity, cleaner burns, better better better... enough so that I picked up 2 pounds of FFFg at our clubs gunshow last night. Anyone here switch from FFg to FFFg? How much did you reduce your FFFg load from your FFg load? As stated, I"ve used 90gr of FFg and figured I'd start at 70gr of FFFg and read the patch. But different gun this time, I picked up a Green Mountain 32" 54 cal 1:70 barrel. So... FFFg is new to me and interested in reading about other's experiences. Thanks!

Hello Dean. I went through the same process, a few years ago, looking for more reliable ignition in my muzzleloader. While not the same as a PRB, or with true BP, here's what I experienced.....

I shoot a .54 remington inline with hornady 425 grain great plains bullets. I used 135 grains, by volume, of pyrodex RS select (FFg). When I switched to pyrodex P powder (FFFg), I started out with a reduced load, shooting over a chronograph.

The RS load was 1650 fps. I worked up the P load until I hit 1650 fps. It was 110 grains by volume (87 grains by weight). Then I shot for accuracy.

Group size was the same, and POI was the same. The gun showed no difference in regards to accuracy or POI. I was really pleased!

The upside of the finer powder, was not only using less powder, but the difference in ignition was very noticeable....much quicker. The gun had a different report sound, more of a crack, than ka-boom. And less smoke hanging in the air.

Since the switch, I've killed several bull elk, cow elk, and a few deer. The gun and load combination has performed flawlessly, under all weather conditions found here in Idaho.

It has my total confidence. That's more than I can say for the old RS/FFg load.

Andy3

I usually use about 10% less with FFFG than FFG. I think I get better accuracy with the FFG though. So i would try 80 grains.
80 seems to be a peak of energy versus powder volume in a lot of guns. Personally for my area and whitetails, 80 is a good choice. I would sooner go to 75 than 90 on the next trial.

I think another consideration is patch thickness. With a 530 ball my four flintllocks like a patch thicker than 0.015. I use prelubed patches from oxyoke. Thinner patches don't fill/clean the deep rifling and lead to loss of accuracy in my opinion.

I also damp swab between every round at the range. Damp not wet, just enough to make the carbon loose.

So I guess what I am getting at is the best guess of accuracy variables. I would say patches and cleaning are more important than powder. And I would expect a 10% reduction in volume from FFG to FFFG to be close. And like all firearms, a good barrel is more forgiving to variables.

Thanks guys, appreciate the insight. Didn't think about different thickness with patches with the new barrel, time will tell. The .0015" patches are perfect with my old rifle. Any thicker it cuts them and thinner is less velocity and poor accuracy. I too damp swab between shots and agree, the barrel needs to be clean. Been muzzleloading for decades, just never used FFFg before. 54, and bigger, caliber rifles and a 10 bore scattergun, FFFg never entered my thinking! Haha, anyway... thanks again for taking the time to respond!

Or you could go BALLS OUT and Run with 170 Grains of Swiss 3F pushing a 540 Grain Minie Ball Such as i just recently did 🙂

This should NEVER BE ATTEMPTED with ANY Regular 58 Cal Rifle!! This is a VERY DIFFERENT .58 Cal Rifle, This one was Proofed with 200 Grains of 3F Powder With a 610 Grain Minie 🙂 These Navy Arms “Hawken Hunters” are EXTREMELY HEAVY Built Guns, 1-1/8” Across the Flats, Solid Brass under Rib, And Solid Stainless Ramrod. Can you read about this Rifle in the 1975 Lyman Blackpowder Handbook, Where Navy Arms Owner Val Forgett SR Took all BIG Creatures in Africa with one of these. The Load he settled on was 180 Grains of 3F Powder, and a 610 Grain Minie called a “Stake/Steak Buster”








To start out with i had planned to Test 180 Grains, But since I’m using Swiss which is Noticeably Hotter than Goex (Likely what Val Forgett used) I ended up Settling on 170 Grains. The Rifle took it with EASE, and would do so DAY IN, AND DAY OUT if one Chose to Do this

crazy bastard

I have two 54 caliber rifles. A Deer Creek with a percussion drum and a Custom Hawken with patent breech. The Deer Creek shoots best with 90 grains of Goex FFg And the Hawken shoots best with 70 grains of FFFg.

I first tried FFg in the Hawken and had good groups with 80 grains. But ignition was a touch inconsistent. Tried FFFg and got good groups with 70 grains and fast ignition. I believe the smaller granules filled the flash channel more consistently. Based on the targets, ten grains less FFFg than FFg produced the same poi and group size. In that particular rifle.

As always, the rifle will tell you what it likes. Test it all and let it show you.

It Kicks harder than it looks on the Video I sure as HELL Wouldn’t want to Sit down at a Bench and Squeeze that Load off for Group Accuracy! That would create a Flinch

Some interesting posts here and am interested in the posts. Here is why. Wisconsin ended its muzzleloader season yesterday so I emptied my TC Hawken with my new Green Mountain Barrel. With 50 gr. of 2f after it sat for a week, it did not go off. The #11 cap did but the Old Eyendford #2F did not . It did however go off the second time. It was 12 degrees at the time and sat in my garage cause I didn't want to bring it inside and have it absorb moisture. I want to go to 3F for now on. I only use about 45 gr of Goex F3 cause my new Green Mountain cuts into the patch after about 50gr of Goex. I also noticed Old Eyensford is cleaner than Goex, at least the patches dont seem as gunked up. I think the Green Mountain rifling is cutting the patches cause my TC barrel didn't do that.

When I'm muzzleloader hunting, I disharge my muzzleloader at the end of each day and give it a good cleaning back at camp. Next morning, snap a couple caps, run a couple patches, load and go. Rifle has always gone off without hesitation. I'm headed up to my place by Sturgeon Bay this morning for the antlerless hunt this weekend. Bringing the 54, but a couple other things too. This winter, I'll get the Green Mountain barrel all set using FFFg and see what patch it likes.

Try thicker patching.

I have taken to using the CO2 discharger to unload after a hunt. Cleaning and cap snapping isn't necessary before reloading it the next morning.

We all have our own routines with these things. I've shared what's worked very well for me.